THERE ARE NO WORDS…

As GIFs replace thoughts and even words on smartphones, civilization hurtles toward collapse

DISRUPTIVE

DONALD TRUMP is our brains on GIFs.

Many people who are thoughtful and analytical have a hard time understanding the appeal of Trump’s empty but crowd-roiling provocations. But think about the smartphone-driven explosion of GIFs in the past six months.

You’ve probably seen those three-second video loops pop up on Instagram or Twitter. If you’re under 30, you might traffic in GIFs all day long. This year, GIFs are turning into an industry and becoming a whole new language, one that is entirely about emotion and devoid of facts or even a smidgen of context.